Top Five Best Fantasy Novels

I am sure we all have our own views on which are the five best fantasy novels, but I thought I would throw in my own two cents on this important topic. For those who are not entirely clear on what I mean by ‘fantasy novel’, I am referring to those books that are often shelved along with science fiction in your local Borders, and which can sometimes be confused with romance novels from the covers, even though this is a HUGE mistake. (I think.)

But first, some basic principles for what makes a good fantasy novel:

1. A good fantasy novel follows the classic storyline. The main hero rises from obscurity to become powerful and respected; he (and it’s almost always a he, go figure) ends up together with a sassy, powerful, gorgeous girl way above his pay-grade (or several girls! I’m looking at you, Rand Al’Thor); and he plays the crucial role in the defeat of some newly-returned ancient evil of apocalyptic proportions.

2. It’s not just one novel, it’s a multi-volume series. Very long but not overwhelmingly long. Three to Five volumes at 500-800 pages a pop is generally the sweet spot. The point is to escape from the mundane normal life you lead (or, to put a positive and theological spin on it, to get in touch with the deeper truths about good and evil and the End Times that are hidden but powerful realities in the world, and with the power of giving yourself utterly over to a cause, especially when you have friends to help you along the way (church)). You need a lot of pages to get a really satisfactory escape.

3. It is well-written. ‘What?’ I hear you say. ‘Isn’t well-written fantasy novel an oxymoron?’ The obvious answer is yes. Fantasy novels usually go astray when they try to get too literary. Their job is to evoke in very straightforward language an exciting world, and a story that follows a standard pattern within that world. This means that compared with real literature, or even average literature, they are pretty bad. But there is an art to writing a fantasy novel well. The language needs to be imaginatively evocative, but without trying too hard.

You can tell a good fantasy novel from a bad one a mile away, mainly by the character and place names. If you are unable to see the quality difference between good names like Tyrion Lannister (a mistreated prince), Asmodean (corrupted sorcerer, now very evil), Minas Morgul (a dark and evil city), and The Stone of Farewell (a sad and ancient meeting spot where great things once happened), and bad names like Sir Sparhawk (a hero we are somehow supposed to take seriously), Applecore (a feisty fairy), Rooftoppers (tiny beings, known only to a few, who live on a castle roof), The Elf Queen of Shannara (one of the worst titles in a sea of bad novel titles), and Tebreille din Gelyn South Wind (a magical sailor lady)… then fantasy novels unfortunately are not for you.

4. The writer pulls off the ending well. This is extremely difficult, because there is basically only one way to end a long fantasy series well: the defeat of the apocalyptic evil has to entail a massive personal cost to the hero, on a scale unprecedented in the earlier books in the series (which were already full of massive personal cost to the hero), and it needs to have a basically happy but bittersweet resolution. Usually this cost involves dying and coming back in some way (again, go figure), but it can be accomplished other ways. A magical object is often involved, but this can’t be the sole literary device for the ending, or it is too obvious and boring.Only one fantasy series really pulls all of these principles off well—I’ll give you a hint, the title has something to do with sovereignty over hand jewelry, and apparently took place in New Zealand—and even that one doesn’t really have the girl part (bummer). Actually, our number two (see below) does a good job too. Anyway this dearth of quality may or may not be an indicator of how lame fantasy novels really are, even though they are awesome…

With these principles in mind then, at last, my top five multi-volume fantasy series:

1.That one whose title I couldn’t remember, involving the jewelry and the small people, by that English professor guy.

2.Harry Potter. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. This means that you, O reader who loves Harry Potter but not other fantasy novels, are geekier than you know. And you, O geeky fanboy fantasy writer, have been trumped by a children’s author.

3.Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams. It’s not the best on any of our four counts, but it does the best job of being very solid without any huge flaws. It actually ends!

4.The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Yes, this stupid series is way too long (I remember once joking with DZ when I was a kid that the final volume might not come out until I was in college! …I am now five years out of college and it is not out yet), and it is not very good in the middle. But at its best, this series blows all but our number one out of the water, and the latest couple were actually quite good again. Jordan unfortunately passed away recently, and the final volume is being completed by some guy named Brandon Sanderson.

5.A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Many would put this one in the number two or three spot, because Martin is a much better writer than anyone else currently in the field, and he has actually done something quite new and contemporary in intentionally muddying the line between who is a hero and who is a villain. The problem is that he violates principle number one pretty badly to do so, and in the end, let’s face it, if I wanted something dark and meandering and literary and cynical rather than cathartic and full of old-school good vs. evil awesomeness, I would not be reading a fantasy novel.

24 comments

Nice work Sim! While I have not been known to read much in this genre, I have to say that my interest is peaked. I do have a special place in my heart for LotR, which I am sure is not unique. The power of the imagery employed in fantasy can seldom be overstated:)

I have actually sort of started reading some of these. I’m a newbie, so I’m doing the Star Wars books. The Pre-Republic series is pretty cool. One Sith Lord has alien/crustacean/parasites all over him that create a suit of armor. Gross but cool.

You also learn about different Jedi specialties and Sith holograms.

Fantasy is a great way to check out of the world for a couple of hours.

considering the amount of fantasy books that are published every year, i’ve always been a little surprised about how few masterpieces have resulted. cause when they’re good, they’re SO good! meanwhile, the sci-fi genre keeps turning out classic after classic… any thoughts?

And why have fantasy comics or tv never really taken off? even Bone isn’t all that great. bottom line is, i may finally have to give in and read the Tad Williams.

The Belgariad, by David Eddings. To date, the only fantasy series (including, sad to say, LOTR and Narnia) that I’ve ever like. Never gave the sequel, The Mallorean, a chance, though, so what does that tell you?

there are two elements inherent to the fantasy genre that make it very difficult to write a masterpiece. the first is that you have to follow a basic storyline (principle number one) that has been done a thousand times, and still somehow make it fresh and interesting. the parameters are very narrow. like a sonnet.

occasionaly, someone can deliberately mess with the classic formula (e.g. martin), but that gets old quick, and in fact is easier than doing the old school method well.

second, it needs to be very long (principle two), and it is extremely difficult to have something that is long and epic in scope, but still self-contained and that actually reaches a true conclusion. the achilles heel of many of the best series (jordan and martin being the classic examples… and that terry goodkind guy, he just keeps writing and writing) is they go TOO big, and they lose the thread. someone like tolstoy can handle massively complex, many many character stories. joe fantasy fanboy is usually no tolstoy, for some reason.

(this is part of why the harry potter books are so impressive– the quality is sustained, and even improved, over the course of seven sizable instalments. it is also why the show lost got better after they decided to give it a limited number of seasons.)

so someone who can make the most cliche-ridden story around seem fresh, and can sustain it over a multi-thousand page narrative without losing the thread… well they almost don’t exist. tad williams is very nearly b-list, but he moves up a category because he is actually able to close the deal. (memory sorrow and thorn adheres to the “playing not to lose” strategy of fantasy writing, and it works.)

sci-fi lends itself much more easily to classics (dune, ender’s game, stranger in a strange land, the stars my destination, etc. etc.) in significant part because it does not have the extremely rigid storyline to deal with.

it also occurs to me that the difficulty of making an old story seem new again is maybe the same main difficulty in giving a good sermon. and we all know how easy it is for a good sermon to become lame when it goes on too long…

So much of classic sci-fi is not really about the future or another dimension, but about Now. It’s really about us, but as human beings we have to have things transposed to understand them. Like the parables. So sci-fi pretends it’s about cyborgs or robots with AI but it’s really about us, our insecurities, fears, etc.

Does fantasy do this too? Tolkien certainly does, and I’m sure others do too, but perhaps it’s a science vs. magic thing, and magic just more easily falls into escapism (though it needn’t), and science is slightly more real (though it needn’t be) since we live in a techno-scientific world (though I don’t; I’ve got leeches attached to me right now to cure my rickets).

Working within the rules, being creative within a form, is of course endlessly fascinating. Sermons are like this, they have to reflect a scripture, meet a deadline, have a certain length, and be part of the larger worship service.

And of course, comics do this too: 22 pages, on a deadline, in the attempt to tell a story that involves conflict and change (as all stories do), yet can’t really change anything at all, or else the comic book fans get incensed. Phoenix is dead – nah, not really. So the challenges are immense to tell a good story, but it does happen, as with Alan Moore (peace be upon him). Which brings me to what I really wanted to talk about: Watchmen. Yessss.

Hi Simeon. It sounds like these are five multi-volume swords-and-sorcery novels you like. That’s cool.

For Mockingbird readers who don’t read much fantasy, however, it’s worth pointing out that there is a lot of fantasy out there which isn’t swords and sorcery.

Fantasy, in this sense, is anything set in a world that is not our own (e.g. talking animals, people who can fly, etc.) — with the caveat that it is not simply our own world set in a different time (e.g. historical fiction), nor is it a world in which the achievements or technology of science are essential (science fiction).

Swords and sorcery (elves, wizards, etc.) is one instance of fantasy, but there’s a lot of ways of creating a fantasy world that don’t involve magic swords and musclebound barbarians and spells and such.

Some of the great fantasy novels are now classified as “children’s novels.” Probably the four best I know are:

The Wind In The WillowsCharlotte’s WebPeter PanWatership Down

I’d suggest that they are simply great literary masterpieces –wonderful writing, heartbreaking, funny, exciting — that rank with any of the great novels of the last 2-3 hundred years.

The two best fantasy novels I have read of recent years are:

NeverwhereThe Golden Compass

There are also some wonderful fantasy novellas writen by two 19th century Christians, Lewis Carroll and George MacDonald.

I share your love for THE HOBBIT and LORD OF THE RINGS. My own personal view of LOTR, by the way, is that it is one long (very long) extended meditation on I Cor 1:26-28 — especially in the way Tolkien showers so much love on Gollum.

I have been waiting for a post like this from Simeon since the beginning. So good! I never read any multi-volume fantasy as a kid because they were all Satanic (like the cartoons “He man” and “Voltron”-totally off-limits) according to mom. Now I love the stuff thanks to a Christmas gift of #1 from the Z family.

I agree with Michael, the Nicholson trilogy is great. The final one has this real Exodus, nomad peoples in the wilderness thing going on. Also, the Chronicles of Prydain are awesome (The Black Cauldron anyone? And remember that whole long sequence in Taran Wanderer where he learns how to make pottery? Very strange).

I can’t believe you left out the series “The Dark is Rising” by Susan Cooper. I have it on good authority that it was a childhood favorite.

I believe the first book of series, the Dark is Rising, was made into a movie. I think it was called the Seeker or something like that. Didn’t watch it, but I think I might even though the previews looked terrible!

Sorry I’m a few days late here, but I’ve got to put in a word for A Song of Ice and Fire. At least two characters appear to be on the “classic track”: Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen. Everybody else might be wandering around in medieval-noir, but there’s still some classic stuff in there. I want to believe that he can tie everything up in three books. I want to believe we’ll get the classic resolution we’re all waiting for. I want to believe.

hey, i liked Bone, i just don’t think it’s the classic that i really, really wanted it to be. i originally read it in serial form and was totally enthralled by Smith’s style. when i returned a couple years ago to read it front-to-back, i was a bit disappointed. mainly by the final third.

but perhaps i just need to pick up those beautiful color editions they’ve been putting out…

p.s. did you see i included that amazing promise ring song from All The Real Girls on our january playlist. all your inspiration.

I did see it! Such a great song. Now whenever I even see the title, I think of that beautiful shot of the town’s reflection in the water… (I bet DGG makes awesome mix CDs too.)

I guess Bone starts to feel a little out of control in the final third, and the balance doesn’t seem quite as tone-perfect as it does in the first three books, but it seemed to hold up a little bit better on the second and third readings…

Still, I think Phoney’s troubles in the city—with the bees and the treasure—are just as classic as his cow-gambling scheme.

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